Apprenticeship, Partnership, Membership: Twenty Years of Defence Development in the Baltic States Edited by Tony Lawrence Tomas Jermalavičius 1 Apprenticeship, Partnership, Membership: Twenty Years of Defence Development in the Baltic States Edited by Tony Lawrence Tomas Jermalavičius International Centre for Defence Studies Toom-Rüütli 12-6 Tallinn 10130 Estonia Apprenticeship, Partnership, Membership: Twenty Years of Defence Development in the Baltic States Edited by Tony Lawrence Tomas Jermalavičius © International Centre for Defence Studies Tallinn, 2013 ISBN: 978-9949-9174-7-1 ISBN: 978-9949-9174-9-5 (PDF) ISBN: 978-9949-9174-8-8 (e-pub) ISBN 978-9949-9448-0-4 (Kindle) Design: Kristjan Mändmaa Layout and cover design: Moonika Maidre Printed: Print House OÜ Cover photograph: Flag dedication ceremony of the Baltic Peacekeeping Battalion, Ādaži, Latvia, January 1995. Courtesy of Kalev Koidumäe. Contents 5 Foreword 7 About the Contributors 9 Introduction Tomas Jermalavičius and Tony Lawrence 13 The Evolution of Baltic Security and Defence Strategies Erik Männik 45 The Baltic Quest to the West: From Total Defence to ‘Smart Defence’ (and Back?) Kęstutis Paulauskas 85 The Development of Military Cultures Holger Mölder 122 Supreme Command and Control of the Armed Forces: the Roles of Presidents, Parliaments, Governments, Ministries of Defence and Chiefs of Defence Sintija Oškalne 168 Financing Defence Kristīne Rudzīte-Stejskala 202 Participation in International Military Operations Piret Paljak 240 Baltic Military Cooperative Projects: a Record of Success Pete Ito 276 Conclusions Tony Lawrence and Tomas Jermalavičius 4 General Sir Garry Johnson Foreword The swift and total collapse of the Soviet Union may still be viewed by some in Russia as a disaster, but to those released from foreign dominance it brought freedom, hope, and a new awakening. To some it restored independence and for others it removed the hand of a subjugating empire. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, were plunged, largely unprepared, into the turmoil of realignment, reform and restructuring. All sought urgently to reaffirm their identities in the wider world by aligning themselves with modern liberal values and established institutions, and to make provision for their security within that framework. All eventually resolved these issues in differing ways. The former Warsaw Pact countries and the three Baltic states shared similar strategic security policy goals: membership of the EU and NATO. With the process of integrating the nations of Central and Eastern Europe fully into that continent nearly complete, it is easy to overlook the fact that in the early years, achievement of these aims was not a straightforward or easy process. For Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, their proximity to the Russian Federation and fear of a possible resurgence of an existential threat from that direction meant that NATO membership was the issue of immediate urgency, with the guarantee of Article 5 as the ultimate shield. But NATO itself was not united in viewing enlargement as necessarily to be desired. At the political level the initial views of member states varied from strongly supportive to, at best, lukewarm. Many senior NATO military figures warned that an enlargement of the Alliance would weaken its core defence capability. The Nordic neighbours argued that national security could be preserved without the need to join an alliance and were ambivalent about extending the reach of NATO to the Russian border. Russia itself fought hard to prevent this happening. While the high-level arguments were debated, and the case eventually won, a process of security sector reform had to be worked out and put in place in readiness for meeting the standards of the EU and NATO. This was par- ticularly challenging for the Baltic states, who had not just to reform existing organisations, but to create and then harmonise new defence structures. This required the resolution of complex doctrinal issues centring on the role, shape and size of the new defence forces. Should they have the full spectrum of capability on land, at sea and in the air, and if so how could it be afforded? Should they concentrate on providing niche capabilities for a 5 Apprenticeship, Partnership, Membership Foreword NATO of which they were not yet, and might never be, members? Should they rely on a total defence system, with small standing forces backed by a large mobilisable reserve? Should the standing forces be professional and small, or based on conscription and large? There was no shortage of external advice, official, private or commercially inspired, much of it conflicting, some of it seeking to promote or defend vested interests. A major difficulty faced by all three Baltic states was the lack of homegrown expertise with which to assess this torrent. There were no existing forces on which to build and military officers had gained their experience in a system very different from those they sought to emulate. There were no robust academic or institutional fora within which to conduct the debate. In this setting the early advice of an independent group of senior international experts, working at high level with ministers, civil servants and defence chiefs, provided a useful and objective body for the provision of considered and disinterested advice. Many of these issues and others of equal importance are addressed in the essays which are gathered in this publication, which is a great help in record- ing the past and pointing the way forward for the defence posture of the Eastern Baltic. It deserves wide readership by all those interested in that issue. General Sir Garry Johnson has been the Chairman of the International Advisory Board to the International Centre for Defence Studies since 2007. He was the Chairman of the International Defence Advisory Board to the Baltic States from 1995-2001. 6 About the Contributors Pete Ito Pete Ito is a lecturer and researcher in the area of defence acquisition at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. He regularly teaches at the Baltic Defence College. He was a US Foreign Service Officer from 1982-2007 serv- ing in South Korea, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands and Washington, D.C. Tomas Jermalavičius Tomas Jermalavičius is a researcher in defence science and technology as well as defence management issues of the International Centre for Defence Studies, Tallinn, Estonia. He was an official of the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence from 1998-2001 and in 2005, and a Directing Staff member at the Baltic Defence College, Tartu, Estonia, from 2001-2004 and 2005-2008. Tony Lawrence Tony Lawrence is a researcher in defence planning and defence management issues at the International Centre for Defence Studies, Tallinn, Estonia, and a member of the Directing Staff of the Higher Command Studies Course at the Baltic Defence College, Tartu, Estonia. He was an official of the UK Ministry of Defence from 1988-2004. Holger Mölder Holger Mölder is Associate Professor in Security Policy and Strategic Studies at the Estonian National Defence College. He received his PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Tartu in 2010. From 1995 to 2009 he held various positions in the Estonian Ministry of Defence. Erik Männik Erik Männik has worked as a researcher at the International Centre for Defence Studies since 2010. His research interests include contemporary conflicts and crisis management, and small states’ defence, security and strategy. He has previously worked in various positions in the Estonian Ministry of Defence and held the Chair of Strategy at the Estonian National Defence College. He completed his doctoral studies at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. Sintija Oškalne Sintija Oškalne has worked in various policy positions in the Latvian Ministry of Defence since 2000, and is currently the civilian representative of the 7 Apprenticeship, Partnership, Membership About the Contributors Ministry of Defence in Latvia’s mission to the OSCE in Vienna. She holds a Master’s degree in Political science from Karlstad University, Sweden. Piret Paljak Piret Paljak has studied at Tartu University and at the Central European University in Budapest, from where she received an MA in Political Science. From 2000-2011, she worked in the NATO Department of the Estonian Ministry of Defence. Kęstutis Paulauskas Kęstutis Paulauskas is a staff officer of the NATO International Staff. Prior to this he was a lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University. He received his PhD in political science from Vilnius University in 2007. He has studied in Creighton University (Nebraska, US), the University of Toronto (Canada), and the Catholic University of Leuven. He has also been a visiting scholar at the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris. He served in the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania from 2001-2006 and at the Lithuanian delegation to NATO in Brussels from 2006-2009. Kęstutis Paulauskas is the author or co-author of over 20 articles and several books on Baltic security and defence policies, NATO transformation, nuclear deterrence and other issues. Kristīne Rudzīte-Stejskala Kristīne Rudzīte-Stejskala works for the Ministry of Defence of Latvia. She is currently posted to Brussels where she serves in the Latvian Delegation to NATO. Mrs. Rudzīte-Stejskala holds a Master’s degree in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics, as well as a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Latvia. She is the author of several academic publications, mainly focussed on security and defence issues. 8 Tomas Jermalavičius and Tony Lawrence Introduction More than two decades have passed since the re-establishment of the independence of the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – and the re-creation of their defence organisations. In this period, their armed forces have grown almost beyond recognition, from poorly armed, equipped and trained organisations to modern and professional forces, contributing effec- tively to operations alongside their Allies and partners.